The field of the present invention relates to targeted television ad replacement using a so-called “smart TV.” In particular, systems and methods are disclosed herein for terminating or altering targeted television ad replacement in response to a user-control action.
A goal of modern television advertising is targeted selection of advertisements for individual households or even for specific viewers in those households. Numerous techniques and methodologies are available for (i) collecting user profile information from one or more sources (online or offline), (ii) using that profile information to select one or more targeted advertisements, (iii) using the profile information to select one or more programs or channels for presenting the targeted advertisements, and (iv) correlating subsequent viewer actions after presenting the targeted advertisements. Some of these techniques and methodologies are described in:                U.S. Pat. No. 7,861,260 entitled “Targeted television advertisements based on online behavior” issued Dec. 28, 2010 to Shkedi;        U.S. Pub. No. US 2009/0172728 entitled “Targeted online advertisements based on viewing or interacting with television advertisements” published Jul 2, 2009 in the names of Shkedi et al;        U.S. Pub. No. US 2009/0300675 entitled “Targeted television advertisements associated with online users' preferred television programs or channels” published Dec. 3, 2009 in the name of Shkedi;        U.S. Pat. No. 8,051,444 entitled “Targeted television advertisements selected on the basis of an online user profile and presented with television programs or channels related to that profile” issued Nov. 1, 2011 to Shkedi; and        U.S. Pat. No. 7,890,609 entitled “Requesting offline profile data for online use in a privacy-sensitive manner” issued Feb. 15, 2011 to Shkedi.        
Typically a targeted television advertisement is inserted into the stream of presented television content in place of a non-targeted advertisement. A “targeted advertisement” refers to an advertisement shown to users based on taking into account user-specific profile information. A “non-targeted advertisement” refers to an advertisement shown to a large group of users without use of user-specific profile information; it may be “targeted” in a different sense, such as selected based on broad demographic characteristics, such as the demographic characteristics of users who watch a particular television program. A variety of technological approaches are employed to achieve proper insertion of targeted television advertisements into the stream of presented television content.
In some cases, capabilities of a so-called “smart television” (i.e., smart TV) are utilized to achieve insertion of the targeted, replacement television advertisement in place of a non-targeted television advertisement. A smart television, like any other television, has a connection to one or more television signal source devices. Examples of television signal source devices can include, but are not limited to: a digital antenna; a set-top box (STB) for cable, satellite, or Internet Protocol Television (IPTV); a digital video recorder (DVR); a so-called entertainment-oriented device (EOD) such as a game console or a so-called “Over The Top” device (OTT; examples include Apple TV® or Roku®). The smart TV receives from the television signal source device a television signal feed that has encoded thereon television content and presents via the television display the encoded television content. Television content, as used herein in any context, may comprise audio or video or both. Television content encoded in the television signal feed shall be referred to herein as the primary television content. The television content can be encoded into the television signal feed by the television signal source device, or it can merely pass through that device already encoded. The primary television content can include programming of any sort (e.g., live, recorded, on-demand, broadcast, multicast, unicast, and so on). The primary television content often includes one or more non-targeted or targeted television advertisements (broadcast, multicast, or unicast), which can be inserted by the television signal source device or are already present in the primary television content by the time the television signal feed reaches that device. An example can include a STB uncompressing a broadcasted MPEG2 compressed 720p television program into a 720p uncompressed format, which is delivered from the STB to a smart TV via an HDMI interface. The television program can include advertisements broadcasted as part of the program or advertisements inserted into the program by the STB (instead of or in addition to the broadcasted ads).
A smart TV also has its own connection to a computer network through which the smart TV can be provided with online access, e.g., access to the Internet. The smart TV can receive television content through the computer network connection. The smart TV also includes one or more computer processors or processor cores and one or more computer memories (collectively referred to hereinafter as the “smart TV computer” or simply the “computer”) that enable it to receive, store, or process data or programming instructions. Such data and programming can be employed, e.g., to enable the smart TV to receive targeted television advertisements and to present them in place of non-targeted television advertisements that are part of the primary television content.
An example of a conventional method for inserting a targeted television advertisement into a stream of primary television content can be performed as follows using the computer network connection and the smart TV computer. The smart TV receives via the computer network electronic indicia of data representative of portions of the primary television content. First data represents the portion of the primary television content intended to be replaced (e.g., typically a non-targeted advertisement; referred to as the “to-be-replaced content” or simply “replaced content”); other data represents a portion of the primary television content that immediately precedes the replaced content (referred to as the “preceding content”; e.g., another advertisement or a portion of programming content). The smart TV receives via the computer network electronic indicia of second data representative of secondary television content (e.g., typically a targeted advertisement; referred to as the “replacement content”). Using the computer, the smart TV automatically (i) monitors the television signal feed it receives from the television signal source to detect or otherwise determine the end of the preceding content and (ii) presents after the preceding content, using the second data, the replacement content instead of the replaced content. Once the replacement content is presented, the smart TV can revert to presentation of the primary television content. In another example, the smart TV determines the end of the preceding content by identifying a signal or cue sent as part of the feed. The signal or cue could be embedded in the preceding content (such as in the last frame of the preceding content for example) or in the gap between the preceding content and replaced content or in the beginning of the replaced content.
In all cases discussed herein, data streams like the first data can comprise a so-called “fingerprint” of one or more portions of the primary television content (e.g., a digital video fingerprint generated in any suitable way), a compressed digital encoding of one or more portions of the primary television content, a raw, uncompressed encoding of one or more portions of the primary television content, or other suitable representative data that enables the smart TV to identify the corresponding television content in the television signal feed (i.e., the replaced or preceding content). If a fingerprint of the primary television content is employed, it can be generated according to any one of several known techniques or protocols. One example of a fingerprint of a segment of television content can rely on sampling within every video frame of that segment of the television content. The smart TV, or a central server in possession of the segment samples, can compare the samples of the segment with a sample taken by the smart TV from the television signal feed. Based on that comparison, the smart TV or the central server can recognize a specific frame within the segment. Likewise, the second data can comprise any suitable compressed or uncompressed encoding of the secondary television content (i.e., the replacement content). Different or parallel compression protocols can be used for first and second data. If a fingerprint of the primary television content is employed for the first data, it can be generated according to any one of several known techniques or protocols (one example can include taking a sample of audio, video, or both from the TV feed and comparing it with an equivalent sample of known content). A given fingerprint of television content can be generated based on both video and audio portions of that content, on the video portion only, or on the audio portion only.
In some other examples (in which fingerprints are not employed or employed partially), the smart TV receives via the Internet the first or second data in, e.g., MPEG4 or other compressed format. The compressed format saves bandwidth so as to enable the parallel transmission of a multitude of different targeted ads to a multitude of corresponding households watching television simultaneously. In one example, entire advertisements (not just portions; the preceding, replaced, and targeted advertisements) are sent to the smart TV, which then uncompresses the three advertisements. The uncompressed preceding ad is compared with the uncompressed television signal feed transmitted from the STB, e.g., via HDMI. At the end of the preceding ad, the uncompressed, targeted, replacement advertisement is inserted by the smart TV in place of the replaced advertisement. While presenting the targeted, replacement advertisement, the smart TV monitors the television signal feed for changes in the replaced advertisement by comparing the feed with the replaced advertisement received over the Internet. Alternatively, instead of comparing uncompressed television signal feed and received advertisements, the smart TV instead can compress the television signal feed and do the comparisons described above using the compressed television signal feed and received advertisements.
The example methods and systems described above create a technical problem relating to viewer control. Typically, the television signal source device mediates viewer control of the presentation of the primary television content. Various user-control actions can be executed through the television signal source device, whether by direct manipulation (e.g., pushing buttons on a STB), by use of a remote control, or by use of an auxiliary device (e.g., a tablet or smartphone software application controlling the STB). Examples of user-control actions executed through the television signal source device can include a channel change or a display change.
A channel change denotes switching among multiple different streams of distinct broadcast, multicast, unicast, or locally stored television content that can be live, prerecorded, time-shifted, or on-demand. A display change can include: (i) a so-called “trick mode” (e.g.: fast forward at various speeds such as 4×, 8×, 32×, or other; rewind or fast reverse at various speeds such as 4×, 8×, 32×, or other; pause or resume; or skipping forward or backward by various specified time intervals, numbers of frames, or scenes); (ii) loop, repeat, or replay; (iii) slow motion or stop action; (iv) changing the zoom, stretch, or aspect ratio; (v) changing viewing angle or other 3D viewing parameter(s); (vi) changing between, e.g., “standard,” “movie,” “sports,” “game,” or other display presets; or (vii) changing backlight, contrast, brightness, color, tint sharpness, color temperature, or other picture quality parameters.
Such user-control actions, when executed through the television signal source device, affect the television signal feed, which in turn affects the presentation by the smart TV of the primary television content. In that capacity, the smart TV acts as a passive presentation device, becoming “active” (i.e., directly affecting the presentation of television content) only when it presents a replacement advertisement or other replacement television content. Note that some display changes can also be executed using the smart TV (e.g., items (iv)-(vii) listed above, or even items (i)-(iii) if the smart TV has sufficient memory or buffering capabilities), even when presenting television content provided by the television signal source device via the television signal feed. However, only those display changes executed through the television signal source device are considered for purposes of the present disclosure or appended claims.
Because user-control actions, when executed through the television signal source device, affect only the television signal feed from the television signal source device, such user-control actions ordinarily would have no discernible effect on any replacement television content being presented on the smart TV display. In other words, in conventional techniques, if a viewer attempts to execute a control action during presentation of the replacement content, the control action would appear disabled. The control action indeed would affect the television signal feed (fast forward, pause, etc.), but the display would continue to show the replacement content, undisturbed by the control action. This state of affairs (i.e., seemingly ineffectual user-control actions) would persist until the replacement content finished showing, at which time presentation would revert to the primary television content (presumably modified, unbeknownst to the user, in compliance with the intervening user-control actions, or perhaps just the last user-control action).
It would be desirable to provide systems and methods that mitigate the problem described above.